


language barriers

by kihyxns



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Language Barrier, M/M, Overworking, Protective Hyungs, Protective Lee Taeyong, nct's mom lee taeyong is present, no beta we die like men, sad chenle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-31 02:32:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17840729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyxns/pseuds/kihyxns
Summary: Taeyong is considered chief-comforter within NCT, with Kun and Johnny also filling up the role as well when the leader is not around. Chenle is definitely in need of some comfort.Chenle is not particularly great a hiding things, especially from his sometimes overbearing, yet protective, hyung’s.;Chenle is getting bullied for not knowing Korean fluently.





	1. breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> wow wow wow ! i did not expect this to be this long at all or for it to need chapters i literally started thinking it was going to be about 3k maybe but then i just kept writing and writing. 
> 
> a certain writer - fandomtothethirteenthpower - has become a great friend of mine through ao3 and their work 'taeyong loves his boys' made me want to write a cute, fluffy fic with a lil angst, centred around a maknae (in this case chenle) and taeyong mainly. i am such a sucker for the dream unit x (protective) taeyong and also for chenle so i wanted to write a fic to contribute to this niche genre.
> 
> i hope y'all enjoy this!! pls leave kudos and comments down below telling me your thoughts !! also if anyone has any protective taeyong fics they want to link me to, please do, i always want to read new ones !!!
> 
> trigger warnings:  
> bullying (mostly verbal but also small amounts of non-descriptive physical as well)

Chenle’s Korean is good. This is a fact. He knows it and everyone around him does too. But sometimes he won’t understand a sentence or a phrase. Maybe a joke or a slang word. That’s when his insecurities latch onto his mind, crawling all over his skin and he just can’t escape their laughter. _You’re terrible at Korean, everyone laughs about how bad you are behind your back._ It never truly stops. Every time he opens his mouth he worries that he won’t be understood or that his words will come out jumbled or in the wrong order. 

As time has passed he’s become more insecure in his second language, especially when he returned to school. The kids would jeer and taunt him for not knowing simple words or jokes, laughing about how he can introduce the title tracks on NCT’s new album but he can’t participate in easy word games. Jisung isn’t even there to defend him, he’s in a different grade with a different lunch schedule. Occasionally Chenle skips his lunch and sits in the toilets all period, wanting to avoid the particular boys who always pick him up on his Korean. It’s not healthy and Chenle knows that (it’s been drilled into by his hyung’s), but he can’t stand to face them, day in day out. 

It’s one of those fragile days. Chenle has got dressed and ready for school in the dark. Jisung had got back late from Dancing High and so was exempt from school. He quietly packs his bag, making sure all of this homework is there, ready to hand in. His head feels a little achy like a migraine is slowly approaching. He ignores the feeling, not wanting to have to wake up Mark in order to get the painkillers. He grabs a breakfast bar type thing to eat instead of a substantial snack, knowing that he doesn’t want to keep the manager waiting. He slides into the car and allows the movement of the vehicle, along with the drowning sounds of morning radio to melt into his mind, zoning out completely. 

Soon Chenle is at school, already feeling the stares from that one group of boys. He can’t escape them and the insults they’re about to throw at him. He walks past, just trying to get to his locker, and they do nothing. He finds it strange but doesn’t question the motion, instead fumbling with his key for his locker. He opens it and begins to put his notebooks and papers away for later when it is slammed shut, crushing his left hand in between the solid metal. His hand is quickly released but the paper he dropped in the process will be the real source of his terror. 

“Chenle-ah, you only got 40% on your Korean literature exam? You’re _that_ bad?” The boy jeers, waving around his exam paper like it was a flag, projecting his absolute inability when it came to Korean literature. 

“No, no that’s good! It’s surprising he can even get that high!” Another laughs in his face, making Chenle feel smaller and smaller with the comments being made. 

Luckily the bell rings and teaching staff begin to roam the halls looking for people to give tardies too. The group quickly walks off, leaving Chenle with a throbbing pain in his hand and a heavy heart. 

He doesn’t take all of the words to heart, that’s until he messes up in Chinese class. Chenle doesn’t technically have to participate in his class and usually ends up helping the teacher with demonstrations or uses the time to work on his Korean. This time the teacher asks him for help in a scenario about asking for directions. Chenle mispronounces the phrase ‘take a left’ and the teacher corrects him. His cheeks flare red and he repeats the phrase and keeps going. His desk mate leans over and whispers _'wow, so you’re even bad at Chinese too?’_ Chenle doesn’t reply, instead looking down at his Korean worksheet, willing himself to not let any tears mess up his hard work. 

He bolts out of the Chinese class as if his last one before lunch. His manager will be picking him up soon because NCT Dream has dance practice earlier than usual due to a 127 schedule later on which Mark and Donghyuck have to attend. That he’s grateful for. Now he just needs to find the toilets furthest away from the lunch room in order to make sure he avoids that group of boys. Yet he manages to walk straight into the same hallway as them. 

The group of about five to seven boys quickly approaches the small Chinese boy, knocking the notebooks he’s carrying out of his hands. One of them picks up his Korean book and starts going on about how his hangul looks weird. Another is laughing about his mispronunciation in Chinese class. Chenle just looks blankly into space, taking in all the insults as he does, he knows his head is saving them all for later when he’s alone and his insecurities can properly come out and play. He tunes back in for just one last comment before the group walks away proudly, smirking like they’ve crushed his spirit enough for one day — _**‘you’re Korean is so bad, you should just stop talking’**_

As Chenle runs off to the bathroom that’s all he can think about. Maybe he should stop talking as much, it would save his hyung’s from having to explain words or correct his pronunciation. His migraine returns to the forefront of his attention as it creeps back up on him, yet the pain within his head in no way outweighs the pain he feels in his soul. 

If his eyes are a little puffy when he walks out of the bathroom his manager mentions nothing of it, just asking how school went and informing him that the practice will not last as long as usual due to the location of 127 schedule changing last minute. Chenle thanks his lucky stars for that because he does not think he’ll be able to face a normal practice with his pulsating headache and a general downturned mood.

No one seems to notice if he’s half a second off the chorus or if he squints a little bit at the bright lights of the studio. Instead, everyone is focusing on getting the chorus perfect so that they can move onto the verses as soon as possible. Before Chenle can even register that the practice is over, Mark is moving to give him a side-hug before both him and Donghyuck leave. 

“Don’t wait up for us, we’ll be back quite late, make sure the maknae’s are in bed early, its a school night!” Mark calls, his voice drifting out into the hallway as he is pulled out of the room. Jisung just sighs at the mention of school, Chenle doesn’t speak a word. 

The Dreamies gather up their things and move swiftly into the van, sitting in a relatively easy silence as they get driven to the dorm. The silence gives Chenle’s mind the opportunity to swirl those comments and insults thrown at him earlier in the day. They circle what seems to be his very being, not allowing him to push the comments to the back of his head to be completely forgotten about. They are all that it on his mind when he walks into their dorm, immediately moving to sit at his desk in his and Jisung’s room instead of enjoying an early evening with his teenage hyung’s. 

“Chenle-ah? Don’t you want to join us?” Renjun calls out, not happy about the almost maknae missing out on ‘quality dream time’ as Mark labels it.

“No, sorry hyung, I have to study for my Maths exam,” Chenle fakes his excuse, intending to work on his already completed Korean literature homework instead. 

Renjun leaves it at that, knowing that Chenle does have a lot of school-work to catch up on because of their varying amounts of schedules, something does not sit right within him though, regardless of that. He mentions nothing to his fellow 2000-liners, just opting to sit and watch the drama that Jeno has picked out, not wanting to cause an unnecessary scene. 

Chenle pours over his Korean literature homework, re-writing and correcting phrases and words that he thinks are incorrect. He ends up being more frustrated at his lack of knowledge of literature than actually bettering his work, which worsens his headache and makes him feel that his Korean is more unsatisfactory than before. He picks at his dinner, not feeling in the mood to eat. The shower is quick and cold, not wanting to waste the hot water for one of his hyung’s. He allows his misery and sadness overwhelm him a couple minutes while Jisung is in the shower, only letting a couple tears drip down his cheeks before he falls into a dreamless sleep. It seems like a cursed existence. 

—

At first Chenle struggles to keep quiet at both school and home, but after a few more taunts from his bullies and his language insecurities growing ever so bigger, he becomes more and more silent, worried that his words will come out all wrong or he mispronounce something and they’ll never let it go. He doesn’t mean to stop talking as much to his hyung’s or rejecting to spend time with them, but in-between attending classes, his schedules, and using any and all of his spare time to study Korean, it just happens. 

In the beginning, it is unnoticeable. With the amount of time Chenle has had to miss of school and an upcoming comeback looming over everyone’s heads, Mark just assumes that he’s studying harder in order to catch up, initially. Then, when Jaemin mentions in an off-hand comment that he hasn’t been spending his free time relaxing, but instead has been studying, Mark begins to see some warning signs. He starts lightly monitoring Chenle’s actions whenever he can, seeing that he is spending all his time studying. He resolves to challenge Chenle, carefully, about his periodical studying habits, not wanting to have to take this further up the chain to Taeyong. 

It’s a late night already when the group gets dropped off at the dorm. Mark notices Chenle slipping away from the group and easily retracts himself away from the conversation in hand to follow the younger down the hallway. He knocks lighting on his bedroom door, opening it slightly to see Chenle hunched over Chinese homework. 

“Hi hyung,” Chenle greets quietly, looking over his shoulder after hearing the intrusion. 

“Hi Chenle, it’s already so late, why are you studying?” Mark asks inquisitively, he peers over the boy's shoulder, seeing that the homework is not complex Chinese, even he can understand some of the phrases used.

“Oh, I just had one more question to finish for tomorrow,” Chenle answers cautiously, suspecting that Mark could be onto him.

“I thought you didn’t get Chinese homework?” Mark knew that Chenle doesn’t, he knows exactly what subject’s both him and Jisung take and get assignments for.

“It’s not mine, someone asked me to correct theirs,” Chenle lies through his front teeth in order to please Mark, the homework isn’t set for him, it was set for the class he’s in. After being taunted about his Korean, the bullies have moved onto his Chinese, making him become increasingly insecure in his native language. 

“Okay, just finish up soon, it’s late and you have school in the morning,” Mark reminds, not feeling completely sated with Chenle’s explanations, but feeling a little comfort in knowing that he’s just helping out a classmate. 

Chenle senses that Mark has seen his sudden burst in studying, but guesses that the acting-leader of NCT Dream doesn’t quite understand why yet. He doesn’t want to risk Mark finding out and informing Taeyong, so puts down the unnecessary homework and changes into his pyjama’s, going into the communal room to spend some time with his hyung for a change. He remains mostly silent, just in case. 

— 

Taeyong makes sure to attempt to gather all of the members of NCT to eat together in the dorms at least once a week. Depending on scheduling and school times he’s usually more successful in securing a lunch break with everyone, but he enjoys the atmosphere of having everyone together and around. He also uses it as an opportunity to catch up with the Dreamies if Mark and Donghyuck are with them instead of 127. He’s been lucky recently and has been able to gather the entire group frequently for meals or general relaxation time, which means he starts to notice things. 

Technically there is no leader of NCT, but the group, the fans and even the management refer to Taeyong as the leader. Taking on this responsibility means he has to be in tune with the needs of every single one of his group members. This is easier said than done considering he rarely gets to see NCT Dream and some NCT U members. Regardless, he is very observant, preferring to gently watch over everyone when they get together like this in order to monitor the mood and wellbeing of the group than to try and engage in conversation with everyone in one evening. That’s how he notices how quite Chenle has become. Usually, the youngest Chinese member’s laugh can be heard over anyone else, now he rarely breaks a smile. He takes much longer to eat a meal, and that’s not due to him savouring Kun’s spectacular cooking. Plus he contributes less to conversations, even with the China-line, his sentences hesitant and wavering on nervous. 

Taeyong decides to bring it up with Mark, wondering if he’s seen anything that could explain the sudden shift in Chenle’s behaviour. 

“Mark,” Taeyong beckons the younger leader to the kitchen, pretending to call him over to do the dishes with him. 

“Yes hyung?” 

“What’s been going on with Chenle recently?” 

“Chenle? He’s been studying a lot more, probably because he keeps missing out in school,” 

“Ah okay, that’s probably why he seems quiet, he’s just over-tired from trying to juggle school and being an idol,” Taeyong’s nerves are instantly settled as he’s able to come to a logical conclusion on Chenle’s actions. 

“Do you want me to talk to him about it?” Mark asks, wondering what solution Taeyong will come up with to remedy the situation. 

“No, don’t worry, I’ll do something, I’ve dealt with many an over-stretched idol,” Taeyong chuckles, albeit sadly, knowing how much pressure Chenle carries on his shoulders, “just make sure he doesn’t stop sleeping to finish his schoolwork or to make up for lost practice time, he still needs to maintain a healthy school-work balance,” 

“Thanks, hyung, do I actually have to help with the dishes?” 

“Yes, that’s the real reason I called you in here,” Taeyong jokes, handing him a washcloth while his mind already goes over what to say to Chenle. 

He leans against the doorframe for a short while after the dishes are done, watching over his group protectively. Mark found a place to sit in between Donghyuck and Yuta. Chenle sits on the edge of the group, near the china-line, but unlike everyone else, he is keeping to himself, not even sharing a blanket. Taeyong finds this a little strange, as Chenle usually capitalises on the fact that he’s nearly the youngest and he’s small to get attention and cuddles from his hyungs, especially the china-line hyungs. 

He quietly makes a move soon after that thought, tiptoeing along the side of the group to crouch near Chenle. Only Johnny notices him usher the boy into the kitchen, giving the leader a concerned look as he passes behind the rest of the boys. Chenle looks confused when he is lifted on the countertop. Taeyong only really does this to see if the younger has drastically lost any weight recently. He places a gentle hand on Chenle’s knee, hoping to dispel any worries he may have about being suddenly taken for a 1:1 conversation. 

Chenle knows that Taeyong attempting to calm his nerves with the hand on his knee, bringing him up to the same eye level with him and he has that look on his face of ‘I’m not mad, but...’ which immediately makes the thought swirl in his mind, did Taeyong find out about the bullying? About how insecure in his Korean he has been recently? 

“Has school been okay?” Taeyong prompts, starting with a question he deems to be non-invasive and non-threatening. 

“Yeah hyung, it’s been okay,” Chenle replies, letting the Korean that feels so foreign in his mouth slide over his lips. 

“Has it been difficult to manage school and schedules recently?” Taeyong prompts again.

Chenle can guess where Taeyong is leading the conversation and just follows along with it, “yeah, just a little,” avoiding direct eye contact so that he can’t accidentally give away his lie.

“You know to come and talk to hyung, or Mark if you’re feeling overworked Chenle-ah,” Taeyong chastises leniently, feeling that the younger is probably stressed about falling behind at school than anything too malicious. 

“I know hyung, I’m sorry,” Chenle looks up slightly to give his apology, seeing the slightly sad expression on Taeyong’s face. He’s starting to wonder if he’ll be able to lie like this again to him. 

“It’s okay baby,” Taeyong replies, opening up his arms to engulf Chenle in a hug. Chenle hugs tightly back, feeling the sudden urge to start crying in his hyung arms. He makes sure to hold back the tears, knowing that Taeyong will suspect more than just tiredness if he does. 

Taeyong looks towards the communal room where the rest of the members are currently watching a movie. Taeyong lifts Chenle from the counter and guides him into the room, where Johnny has saved him a spot next to him and Jaehyun. He weaves himself through the pile of people gathered on the floor, and sits in-between them, giving Johnny a look that conveys’ ‘I’ll explain later’ to him. 

Chenle just allows Taeyong to do so, feeling more secure as he’s pulled down into the leader's lap. He turns slightly, moving more into Taeyong’s soft hoodie, fully intending to fall asleep. An almost unavoidable need to sleep crashes over him as he settles properly into Taeyong’s chest, coupled with Jaehyun’s hand rubbing up and down the plane of his back and Johnny’s warm hand on his ankle, and he’s out like a light in under 10 minutes. 

No one questions it, the entire group knowing not to ask unless told explicitly. The movie finishes and the group begins to get up and retreat to their respective dorms. Taeyong doesn’t want to risk waking Chenle by either handing him to someone else or walking down the stairs to the dorm, so instead, he just takes him to his own room, knowing Johnny won’t care about sharing for one night.

Even as Chenle settles in Taeyong’s bed, completely curled into the leader's side, he can’t help but think that there’s still something else going on. 

—

Even though Chenle has been told, multiple times, that if anything is going wrong in his life, no matter how small, he can tell Taeyong about it and he’ll listen to them. And Chenle knows this, he knows how good of a listener Taeyong is regardless of what the issue is. But he just can’t bring himself to ask for any help with this. His hyung’s would help him with his Korean if he asked, and they’d probably deal with the bullies as well, but he feels that he has to deal with this on his own. 

He goes to school every day now, whether it be for a couple lessons or the entire day, depending on his schedule, leaving Jisung at the gates each time. The bullies stay away when Jisung is around, knowing he won’t hesitate to tell someone about them if given half the chance. Chenle usually meets up with him for lunch and they also walk to class together occasionally, but Jisung has real friends at this school, Chenle left all his friendly classmates behind in China. 

Whenever Jisung is not present the bullies start to taunt Chenle with all their might. They even start slipping him notes in class and posting comments about his Korean online as well. This starts to stress Chenle out even more. The fans are starting to see people attacking his Korean, and if the group catches on then he’ll never be allowed to continue at the pace he is. Currently, he redoes any Korean homework he is assigned three times to make sure it’s the best it can possibly be. He spends most of his evening pouring over the Korean workbooks given to him by his teacher and has many language apps downloaded on his phone so he can practice whenever and wherever. Still, it doesn’t seem to be enough for these bullies.

He’s become more isolated and quiet around his group members, not wanting to be laughed at for saying the wrong expression or not understanding something relatively simple. He second guesses his speech the second it comes out of this mouth, no matter the complexity. He feels as if he is constantly walking on eggshells around the school, with the entire student-body waiting for him to trip up so they can all ridicule him for decades. 

As the comments, the jabs, the snide looks and plain laugher don’t cease, Chenle starts waking up early before school to practice Korean. He rarely checks social media anymore, all his phone is used for is practice, practice, practice. Yet, he doesn’t seem to notice much, or even any difference in his Korean before he implemented this harsh regime. 

—

Chenle can’t keep doing this forever. He feels disheartened that his progress seems to have stagnated, and constantly worrying over his speech is starting to really drain him. He’s hit a breaking point, and by the looks of things, he will soon shatter. 

Things soon turn physical at school, it starts with the bullies just ripping up pieces of his homework and throwing it in his face, then tumbles into pushing him to the ground, purposely trying to slam his hand in his locker, and general shoving into walls. Chenle would much rather endure this treatment without the addition of the comments that are thrown in as well, _‘can’t believe SM even debuted you, considering you can’t speak Korean,’_ and _‘I just can’t understand you.’_

Chenle begins to push himself even harder, in all aspects of his life. He stays behind to practice his vocals and pronunciation for NCT Dream’s upcoming title track. He writes lines and lines of grammar and spellings, making absolutely sure he gets everything right. He stops eating as much, not purposely, but he cannot fit in the time to study and eat breakfast and lunch each day. He pushes himself more, and more, and more, until he hits that inevitable breaking point, the point that gains everyone’s (unwanted) attention. 

The second Chenle’s eyes slip open he can tell that he shouldn’t get out of bed for his own good health. His eyes immediately pull themselves shut, trying to rid himself of the light streaming from the slightly open door. His joints ache from the excessive dance practices he’s been doing, his hand cramps from the extra studying he did last night as well. He can physically feel the congestion in his nose and throat, it is five days to the comeback and he is getting a cold. 

Logically, he should go to Mark or Taeyong immediately, inform them of his supposed illness and take the next day or two easy so he doesn’t fall into a full-blown cold. However, doing so would mean he’d be watched like a hawk by all of his hyung’s and then he’d never get any studying in, which means he could slip behind. This is the exact opposite of what he wants to happen, so he gets himself up, no matter how much his limbs protest it, in order to face the day. 

He doesn’t bother eating breakfast, or taking any lunch to school, already feeling nauseous at the mere mention once f food. The car ride to school makes it even worse, even ignoring the meagre conversation jisung tries to pursue and plugging in his headphones doesn’t cure anything. He trudges through school with limbs that feel weighed down by an unknown force, for once the heckles from his bullies go straight through him as the pain in his head becomes too great for him to realise that anyone is even speaking to him. 

He can’t even bear to sit down and resume his usual studying at lunch, instead taking a light and completely non-refreshing nap at his desk. He stumbles through the rest of his day, just waiting until his manger comes to pick him up. As he clambers into the car with Jisung at his side he realises the only purpose of the day was to try and hide the fact that he’s probably sick, because he literally accomplished nothing. 

As he is swimming in and out of light consciousness, Chenle registers the words, ‘longer dance practice due to scheduling errors,’ and promptly tunes back out after the devastating news. He was hoping to somehow make it through the practice and have an early night for the first time in weeks. Jisung seems content with the situation, happily nodding and answering along to the manager as he fills the youngest in with details about the group's upcoming schedule. Chenle is anything but pleased. 

The situation manages to go from bad to worst scenario possible when after he is changed into appropriate dance attire, most of the hyung-line walk in. Taeyong, Johnny, Taeil, Jaehyun, Yuta and Doyoung all take seats to the side of the room, apparently to observe as none of them has had the chance to see the new choreography yet. His sole goal quickly becomes to downplay any symptoms if he gets called out on them, and considering Taeyong’s sharp eye for any issue with his maknae’s, Chenle thinks it won’t take long for him to get found out. 

The normal stretching exercises that they all do before starting the choreo is making his vision blur at the edges. He makes it past the first run through, with his hyung’s giving the unit an excess of praise, before knowing he runs the real risk of passing out if he doesn’t sit down for at least a minute. He looks to Mark wearingly, who instantly calls a break. The Dreamies all take the opportunity to soak up the compliments from their hyung’s, except Chenle, who just falls straight to the floor where he was standing, trying desperately to keep his eyes open despite the bright lights of the studio.

“You okay there?” Mark asks hesitantly, he drops to Chenle’s level, crouching as he attempts to look into his eyes.

“Uh yeah hyung, give me like two more seconds,” Chenle replies faintly, hunched over into himself, not having the energy to move. 

Beyond the dream kids, Taeyong can see the small exchange between Mark and Chenle. He gets up, slipping past Renjun as he moves over towards the pair. He does the same as Mark, crouching down by Chenle, placing two fingers underneath Chenle’s chin. He gently coerces Chenle into facing him, understanding the situation instantaneously. 

“Chenle-ah, you’re not okay, are you?” Taeyong asks it as more of a rhetorical question but does get an answer from the boy.

“No hyung,” it’s almost a whisper, but Taeyong hears the sentiment loud and clear. 

“That’s okay, yeah we’re gonna go home now, just me and you, right?” Taeyong replies, his voice soft and breathy for the younger. 

“Can Jaehyun-hyung and Yuta-hyung come with us?” Chenle asks timidly, looking back down at his lap again once Taeyong lets go of his chin.

“Yeah sure baby, we’re just going to see a medic before we leave,” Taeyong slips in, motioning to Mark to ask Jaehyun and Yuta to come with him. Taeyong brings Chenle to his feet, essentially supporting his entire weight as they move out of the room and into the hallway. 

A concerned staff member hovers with the medic, who goes through the rounds with a largely unresponsive Chenle. Taeyong hands the boy over to Jaehyun, who’s waiting patiently with Yuta, both dripping with worry, as the medic ushers him to the side.

“He’s just overworked Taeyong-ah, just make sure he rests well tonight and tomorrow and he should be fine for the comeback, keep him hydrated and try to get him to eat something,” the medic informs the leader in almost a dismissive tone, she’s seen countless cases just like Chenle’s over the years she’s worked at SM. 

“Thank you,” Taeyong replies respectfully, nodding his head to Yuta who carefully picks Chenle up, carrying him out to the car. 

After the Dream manager voiced his concern for the younger, he left the three boys to deal with Chenle, knowing their capacity to. Yuta places Chenle on the sofa, standing with the other two by his side, wondering what to do first. 

“First I think we should ask him what he wants to do and go from there,” Taeyong voices his answer to the lingering question, with both of the pair nodding along. 

Taeyong sits down on the sofa next to Chenle, gently touching his shoulder to make sure he realises someone is next to him, “Chenle-ah? Do you want something to eat, drink? A bath maybe? Or do you just want to sleep?” 

“I want cuddles hyung,” Chenle whines, sounding completely miserable. 

“I know baby, you can have some later,” Taeyong replies, looking up at his other group members, Chenle is never this overly needy. 

“Does anything hurt?” Jaehyun asks, placing one of his hands onto the top of Chenle’s head. 

“I have a headache, and my legs ache,” Chenle manages to articulate. 

“You’re going to need to eat something to take the painkillers,” Yuta sighs, hoping the boy doesn’t feel too nauseous to eat. 

“Toast?” Taeyong suggests, moving to get up from the sofa to get to the kitchen. Chenle doesn’t respond but he takes it as a yes. Yuta takes his position on the sofa and allows Chenle to lean against his chest, burrowing his face into his warmth. 

Soon Taeyong returns with the toast to see Chenle in one of his hoodies, curled up against Yuta with his legs in Jaehyun’s lap. He pulls the coffee table closer to the sofa, sitting down on it in order to offer Chenle the toast. Granted, the boy must feel somewhat nauseous because he doesn’t eat much, but it’s enough to take the painkillers. He doesn’t like taking the medicine but does it anyway, a testament to how overworked he really is. 

“Do you want to get into bed?” Jaehyun asks, not knowing how comfortable the sofa is.

“Wanna stay here,” Chenle mumbles into Yuta’s chest.

“That's fine aegi, do you want to put the TV on or is that too loud?” Taeyong questions after placing the painkillers back in the cupboard. 

“Yeah, please hyung,”

That’s exactly what they do, Yuta remains with a koala-like Chenle on his chest, Jaehyun places a warm hand on the younger’s hipbone, rubbing his thumb over the curve soothingly, and Taeyong sits next to Yuta, allowing the Japanese member to lean against him in order to support Chenle better. Taeyong clicks the TV on but doesn’t pay any mind to the show, focusing mainly on the continued breaths Chenle takes, constantly monitoring the situation diligently. 

It remains like that for a while, with everyone but Taeyong taking a nap. The Dream practice eventually ends, with Johnny, Taeil, Doyoung, Winwin and Mark returning to the dorm with both Jisung and Kun in tow. As Taeyong sees the pair quietly enter the room after the usual dorm members he sees a soft sort of sad fall over him. No matter how much Kun protests that he’s not the mother of NCT, he definitely is, especially to the youngest of his china-line. He guesses that Jisung is feeling some type of guilty, considering he spends most of his waking minutes with Chenle and must not have known he was overworking himself to this extent. 

Jisung sees Chenle fast asleep and does not want to disturb him, he merely wants to be close. Taeyong shifts slightly to accommodate the maknae, opening up one of his arms to encircle it around Jisung. Kun takes the option of the floor, brushing the hair that has fallen into Chenle’s eyes back onto his forehead, murmuring what Taeyong can only interpret as Chinese terms of endearment to the younger. 

Even though everyone is making the conscious effort to be as quiet as possible, Chenle does wake up with all the increased movement around the dorm. He attempts to bury himself back into Yuta’s chest but fails miserably, only turning away from his hyung when he realises Jisung is sat right next to him. He makes a small grabby hands signs at Jisung, who immediately gets up out of Taeyong’s arms to engulf Chenle in a bone-crushing hug. The rest of the hyung line get up out of their way, allowing the two maknae’s to hug their feelings away. 

It’s decided that Chenle will stay in the 127 dorms until he’s back to full health, just in case he takes a turn for the worse. Jisung is coerced into leaving for the Dream dorm because Taeyong just knows that he’ll get no proper sleep if Chenle is in the vicinity. Everyone has a pretty quiet night, all slipping around the half-sleep dreamie on the sofa as they go about their nightly routines. 

Taeyong is just about to ask Chenle if he wants to sleep in an actual bed or if he’s happy enough on the sofa when he notices that Yukhei has snuck into the dorm without him realising. Yukhei is laid out fully on the sofa with Chenle situated completely over his chest. Yukhei has wrapped his arm around Chenle’s back, his hands resting over Chenle’s hipbone. Chenle’s head is resting just under Yukhei’s chin, his hand still grasping the front of Yukhei’s sweater in his sleep. Taeyong moves around the curve of the sofa, placing a hand in Yukhei’s hair. 

‘’Are you sure you’ll be okay like this all night?” Taeyong murmurs, not wanting to wake a peaceful Chenle.

“It’s okay hyung, I’m okay,” Yukhei replies, looking protectively over the youngest of the china-line. 

Taeyong understands the affection that the china-line dote on Chenle and Renjun with and just leave it at that, grabbing a nearby blanket and draping it over the pair. He wishes goodnight to Yukhei, anxiously looking over Chenle as he does, informing the older boy to wake him up immediately if anything happens in the night. He retires to bed, his door wide open, just taking in the sounds of Johnny’s steady breaths as he tries to fall asleep. Chenle is fine, _he’ll be absolutely fine._


	2. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone finds out, cue lots of comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello!! after getting a couple eager comments about the next chapter i rushed hard to finish it because I didn't want to keep anyone waiting!!! i hope you all enjoy this as much as i did writing it (feels good to get back into a kpop fic writing groove)!!
> 
> big love and thanks to anyone reading, pls leave a comment or kudos down below it rlly makes my day!! <3
> 
> There are No Major Trigger warnings for this fic

—

By the time the comeback has rolled around Chenle has bounced back, after being released from Taeyong’s constant protective watch he goes back to studying intensely. With the comeback he is going to have to be speaking constantly, meaning his Korean will be under scrutiny from every commentator, every netizen, which will be crushing for him. 

He doesn’t have school until the comeback is over which means he stops suffering under the wrath of his bullies constantly. He still continues to study, making sure his Korean is the best it can physically be. To make sure he isn’t raising any suspicion he starts waking up early to study instead of staying up late. Doing this creates growing tiredness that sits heavily on his shoulders. Regardless, he powers through, not wanting to unnecessarily burden his hyung’s by being unable to participate in the last week of schedules. 

Everything comes to a head when the comeback is over. Chenle is physically and mentally exhausted from rigorous schedules and non-stop weeks. Management gives them three days off before both him and Jisung have to return to school, knowing that if they fall too far behind they’ll never catch back up. Chenle resents the decision, he’s enjoyed a month free of taunting and insults from his classmates and he’s not sure he wants to go back and withstand that. He does anyway, not one to argue with management, and drags both himself and Jisung out of bed on Monday. 

It’s no surprise that no one else is awake from the dream unit, all of them taking full advantage of their post-comeback break. Only Taeyong is present in the dorm, attempting to cheer up his maknae’s before school. It doesn’t work for Chenle, who feels this sick sort of anxiousness at the prospect of class. He eats little and remains mostly silent throughout the breakfast and the car ride, only hugging Taeyong goodbye and waving to their manager once he walks off through those gates. Taeyong asked Jisung before he left to keep a special eye on Chenle, his leader senses feeling that there’s something not quite right about the way he’s been acting for a long time now. 

Jisung complied with Taeyong’s wish, intently accompanying Chenle to class and sitting with him in breaks. Chenle is Chenle to Jisung, his fun, loveable, partner in crime. He has to go across campus after break, leaving Chenle to himself but promising he’ll meet him before lunch. Chenle finds Jisung’s new sudden attachment to him odd, but not unwelcoming. The bullies always back off when Jisung is around, knowing he won’t hesitate to tell one of his group members about the bullying. However, the second Jisung turns that corner to the science building, the bullies pounce, making up for lost time. 

They pass notes to him, laugh under their breaths when Chenle is called on and whisper insults to him when the teacher isn’t looking. This is a new level of harassment now and Chenle can’t cope with it as well as he did before. The bell rings for lunch but they don’t stop. They crowd around him in a semi-circle type shape, pushing him around slightly, calling him names and laughing at everything he does. Chenle doesn’t see Jisung walking down the hallway. Neither do the bullies. Only when one of them says _‘thank god we didn’t have to listen to you butcher **our** language for long today,’_ do they recognise his presence. By the time the comments have sunk in, Chenle has disappeared into the crowd of students walking into the hallway. Jisung looks around frantically, trying to spot the smaller boy to no avail. 

Only now does it make sense to Jisung. The extra studying, the countless nights spent hunched over that desk. All down to four bullies. He immediately moves outside to call Mark, seeing if there is anything they can do. He starts searching the school while he’s on the phone, attempting to split his attention. 

“No hyung, I can’t find him anywhere!” Jisung nearly shouts into his phone, he doesn’t want to seem to be angry at his hyung, but Chenle has gone missing, and he just wants to find him. 

“Jisung-ah, calm down, I’m just getting in the car, I’ll be at your school in ten minutes,” Mark reassures, hoping that Chenle hasn’t run off campus. 

Eventually, after the Dream manager gets on the PA system and asks for Chenle the young boy does appear, after hiding in the toilets for half an hour. The smallest part of Mark wants to shout at him for hiding and worrying both of them, but he sees the bleary eyes and crushing expression on Chenle’s face and feels nothing except a protective warmth. However, Chenle doesn’t allow either of them to get anywhere close to him. He gets into the front of the car and hikes his mask up to his face, pulling his cap down and turning away from his manager as well, clearly not in the mood for any form of communication. 

_“Just leave him be boys, he’ll come to you when he wants to,”_ the manager voices after he overhears Jisung and Mark strategising on what to do once they get home. 

The literal second that the car stops Chenle is out, bolting through the door to the dorm and starting the stairs before Mark can even take a breath. Jisung picks up both their school bags, noticing that Chenle left his behind in his rush to get inside. The pair run after him, saying thank you to the manager before they do, starting to hear to the commotion of Chenle’s sudden entrance to the form has caused. Jeno and Renjun are sat up straight from their previous lounging positions on the sofa, and Jaemin is looking towards the bathroom, a bowl of snacks in hand as Donghyuck walks into the living room. 

“What was that?” Jeno asks carefully. 

Jisung realises that Mark didn’t tell any of them what was going on, he must have just left the dorm. He doesn’t say anything, walking past them all to get to the bathroom. It’s locked, and he knows Chenle wouldn’t appreciate him banging on the door to let him in. Instead, he just listens to the hyung’s argue about what to do, pulling out a piece of paper from his backpack and writing on it; 

_‘Its okay to cry’_

Chenle sobs. 

—

 

Mark gathers the rest of the unit into the living room, asking them to stay put while he calls Taeyong. Currently, the leader is at the studio with the majority of the hyung-line, but Mark has no doubt that he’ll pick up if he is able to. Once informed of the basic situation, Taeyong races back home, along with the rest of the members. 

There’s that worried, anxious look in Taeyong’s eyes, yet his face is completely stilled, devoid of any emotion except total calm, an expression Mark hates to see. He sends the dream unit to the 127 dorms, where the rest of nct are gathered, hoping this will help him coax Chenle out the locked bathroom that he’s currently making home. 

“Do you know anything else?” Taeyong asks Mark before he tackles actually communicating with Chenle.

“Jisung knew nothing about it, all he said was that some kids in Chenle’s class were bullying him, maybe about his Korean,”

This paints an even bleaker expression on Taeyong’s face, he knows how hard it was for Chenle to come to Korea and not understand the language. Even though he still struggles to this day, the leader is intensely proud of how far he’s come. He slowly walks to the door, sitting down next to the doorframe. Mark stands just shy of the entrance, observing the conversation. Both of them can hear the younger’s gasping sobs through the wooden door. 

“Chenle-ah,” Taeyong calls, to no response, “Chenle-ah, the hyung’s aren’t mad, Mark’s not mad, I’m not mad,”

Neither of them know what to say without knowing the full picture. Instead, they continue to stand at the door, waiting for Chenle to either tell them to go away or to stop crying at least. Mark looks nervously at Taeyong, having never dealt which a situation like this before. Taeyong opens up his arm to Mark, letting the younger leader slot into his chest, attempting to comfort his sombre dongsaeng. 

Chenle eventually stops crying, and that’s when Taeyong attempts to try and talk with him again. 

“Chenle-ah, hyung is still here, do you want to come out or do you want to talk with anyone? It’s up to you baby,” 

It’s faint, and his voice is wrecked from the long period of crying, but Taeyong hears “Lucas-hyung,” from his seat and quickly pulls out his phone.

Both him and Mark get up from the floor, hurrying into the living room as Taeyong presses the call button for Yukhei’s number. Before the call even rings Yukhei’s desperate ‘hello’ comes through. As Taeyong briefly explains the situation Yukhei already sounds like he’s running down the stairs towards the dream dorm. Suddenly he’s there, looking at the two leaders with a gaze of protection over his youngest china-line member. Their eyes travel to the bathroom door in silence, and Yukhei walks steadily over, carefully tapping on the door once he does. 

“Chenle, open the door honey,” 

Taeyong stands just towards the end of the hallway, observing the scene carefully. The lock turns slowly, the door opened inch by inch until Chenle realises it’s only Yukhei there. Once he does he jumps into Yukhei’s arms, his crying restarting suddenly. Yukhei just sits himself down against the bathroom wall, holding a sobbing Chenle to his chest, rubbing his hands up and down his back as he tries to calm the younger down. He leaves the two to a semblance of privacy, standing in the kitchen with an increasingly worried Mark, wondering if Chenle will let him close enough to help.

Once again, Chenle’s cries cease, and he allows himself to relax more into Yukhei’s steady frame. His breathing is a little shuddery and jumpy here and there but at least he’s not fully sobbing. 

“Better now?” Yukhei asks in a whisper, not looking down at the boy, simply holding his hand to the back of Chenle’s head, keeping it firmly positioned under his chin.

“Yeah hyung, thank you,” Chenle responds, letting out a deep breath as he takes in the situation around him. He can hear Mark pacing in the kitchen, whilst also recognising Taeyong’s voice, trying to calm Mark down. 

“Do you want to speak to Taeyong-hyung now?” 

“Don’t go,”

“I’m not going anywhere baby, I promise, Taeyong-hyung wants to know what’s got you in this state, can you tell him now, or do you want to wait a little longer?”

“I’ll tell him now,” 

Chenle buries himself impossibly deeper into Yukhei’s chest as the elder calls Taeyong over. He can hear the rush of Taeyong’s feet to the hallway, only slowing when Chenle comes into sight. He carefully takes a seat next to the boy, placing his hand gently on Chenle’s bent knee. 

“Chenle-ah, what’s gone on?” Taeyong asks in that same soothing timbre he uses for any situation likened to this.

Chenle explains. The bullying, the pushing, shoving, the days of pushing too hard, eating not enough, loving too little. Taeyong’s eyes start to water as he puts the pieces of the puzzle together. Chenle has been withdrawing from the group for weeks now, barely eating as much as he used to, rarely joining in conversations, even the China-line ones. Yukhei keeps his breathing as even as possible to make sure Chenle doesn’t start to panic again, regardless of the fact that all he wants to is be angry. When Chenle can go no further and he stops talking he catches his breath back, willing himself to look at his leader.

“I’m so sorry hyung, I’ll be better, I promise, I’ll study even harder and… and…” Chenle blurts out the second he sees the potential tears in Taeyong’s eyes. He only stops when Taeyong brings a hand over his mouth, looking up to the ceiling to avoid the tears falling.

“Baby, I failed you, you have nothing to be sorry about. Hyung didn’t notice the signs, I didn’t realise what you were doing. I didn’t even ask you anything. Can you forgive me Chenle-ah?” 

“Its neither of your faults, it’s the bullies that did this hyung, not you, not Chenle, them,” Yukhei pipes up, removing his hand from the back of Chenle’s head, looking the younger in the eye. 

Chenle still looks a little unsure, and Taeyong doesn’t seem to want to shift all the blame onto the real culprits, but they stop trying to apologise to one another. 

“Chenle, I know it’s hard to speak up about these sorts of things, but if anything ever happens like this again, do you promise to tell me straight away, hyung will never be mad or disappointed,” 

“I promise hyung,”

With that, Mark appears in the doorway, having listened into the entire conversation. Taeyong then remembers the 14 other members waiting for them upstairs, all of them probably anxiously waiting in the living room, just eager to hear something. Taeyong decides then and there to somehow find a way to fit all 18 members in one dorm, knowing that none of them will want to be far from Chenle after what’s gone on. 

“Do you want everyone to come down here or do you want to go to the 127 dorms?’’ Taeyong asks tentatively, ushering Mark to sit at his side as he does. 

“The 127 dorm,”

“Do you want to tell everyone what happened or would you like someone else to explain for you?” 

“I don’t want to say it again,” Chenle mumbles, feeling the tiredness that comes with crying crash over him. 

“That’s okay aegi,” Taeyong hums, brushing his hand through Chenle’s bleached hair.

“Mark, Yukhei, go up to the 127 dorms and just explain what’s happened, I’m going to get Chenle a change of clothes, we won't be far behind,”

With little protest due to the new appearance of exhaustion, Yukhei gently removes Chenle from his chest, propping him up against the bathroom wall and standing along with Mark. The pair send the leader a warm glance before heading upstairs. Taeyong takes a second to gather himself, already thinking about how he’s going to explain this to management. 

“Let’s get you changed out of your uniform huh,”

Taeyong just leaves the younger boy to half-sleep against the bathroom wall as he moves around the dream dorm attempting to find any of Chenle’s clothes. Turns out he needs to spend some time organising their stuff down here because all he comes back with is a pair of Renjun’s sweatpants and Jeno’s t-shirt. With a few encouraging pats on the back, Chenle changes out of his uniform and stands slightly unsteadily on his feet, handing Taeyong his clothes. 

“Can I wear one of the hyung’s hoodies?” Chenle asks shyly, which is strange, he’s usually very open with asking for affection and hoodies. 

“Sure aegi, I’ll find one when we get into the dorm,” 

Chenle holds out his little grabby hands as they head towards the door, Taeyong immediately interpreting this to be a signal to pick him up. He does, letting the younger boy tiredly place his head over his shoulder and cling onto Taeyong. The leader walks up the stairs and into the dorm, seeing the members sat up straight from their previous lounging positions. Mark and Yuhkei stand at the front of the room, clearly just having finished addressing the situation to them all. Taeyong sees the bordering-on-desperate look in Kun’s eyes as the pair walk into the room. 

“Honey, do you want to sit with Kun-hyung while I find your hoodie?” 

He feels a slight nod before walking over to the Chinese leader, carefully placing one of his youngest charges down, allowing Kun to smother him with loving affection. Taeyong merely flicks his wrist and Johnny is following behind him as he walks towards the kitchen. He turns, placing his now shaking hands onto the table in order to steady them. 

“I can’t believe they did that hyung, and I can’t believe the school didn’t pick up on it either,” Taeyong is furious, after keeping all his anger contained so as to not frighten Chenle, he lets it all out in Johnny’s presence. 

“Jisung is pretty upset that he didn’t find out either, Taeil-hyung has been trying to calm him all evening,” that tugs on Taeyong’s heartstrings again. 

“I just need to get everyone settled, then I can deal with Mark and Jisung, I know both of them will be beating themselves up over what happened,” 

“I wanted to call management and ask them how they were going to deal with it but I thought you would want to do that,” 

“Yes, I’m going to call right after I find Chenle a hoodie, I want this all sorted out as soon as possible,” 

“Do you want me to stick on a movie and just pretend this is a normal night?” 

“I think that’s best right now. We’re going to need to have a proper discussion about this later, but it can wait, Chenle is exhausted and I don’t think he’ll want to talk about it tonight,” Taeyong knows if he just tries to wash this under the rug nothing will get better, he has to deal with this head-on, no matter how much it hurts to do so. 

Johnny just nods along, giving Taeyong that knowing look of _‘it’s okay to be angry, it’s okay to not be totally composed all the time.’_

“I need you to help me with this,” 

“Always,” 

Johnny quickly departs back to the living room, leaving Taeyong to rush around and find a hoodie. He chucks one of Jaehyun’s softest ones on his bed, going back to find Chenle nearly completely asleep in Kun’s lap. He almost doesn’t want to wake the boy, but he also understands the importance of sleeping in an actual bed. 

“Chenle-ah, you need to get into bed before you can go to sleep baby,” 

“But I’m comfortable here hyung,” 

“I’m sorry, but it’s better if you don’t sleep in such an awkward position,” 

“Can Kun-hyung stay with me?” 

“Yeah, I will aegi,” Kun replies, looking at Taeyong for direction. 

“Just put him in my bed,” 

Kun walks off with Chenle in his arms, allowing the leader to gather his group. They all look to him as Chenle leaves behind him, instinctively following the younger’s movements. He leaves his group members with Johnny’s capable leadership, leaving the room to call management.

Even though it’s late and he thought he’d be mostly ignored, Taeyong is intently listened to by the management, who promise him that this will be sorted when the school opens tomorrow. He feels reassured in the fact that he will be allowed to sit and speak in the inevitable meeting to be arranged, he wouldn’t want Chenle to have to sit through that alone. He now feels that shock of exhaustion run through him, not realising how much this had taken out of him until he finally stops. Walking back into the living room, he sees that everyone but Taeil is asleep. Considering that there are perfectly good beds available, he starts to wake up the older members, who usher the younger members to a bed of their choosing. After he climbs into a bed with a fitful Jisung, it tries not to think about the day, knowing that it will all get sorted out tomorrow. He falls into a dreamless sleep. 

—

It’s early in the morning when Taeyong wakes. He makes sure to not disturb Jisung as he gets up, walking into the living room as he is successful. He runs his hands though Jeno’s hair, who’s fast asleep on the sofa, presses a small kiss to Renjun’s forehead as he walks past the pair. He manages to grab a cup of coffee before management calls him, telling him the details of the meeting arranged with the school. Both him and Chenle need to be present, which means they both need to be dressed and ready to go in about 45 minutes. It’s too early to wake anyone else up, and even though Taeyong usually cooks breakfast for them all on mornings like this, he’s sure that Kun can deal with it. 

Tiptoeing through the dorm, he moves into his room where Chenle is still happily asleep on Kun’s chest, and Johnny is cuddling Jaemin. Taeyong crouches by Chenle’s side, placing a gentle hand on his back. 

“Chenle-ah, you need to wake up,” he whispers, stirring the younger a little. 

He succeeds in waking Kun, which in turn realises the situation and releases his hold. Taeyong picks up a half-conscious Chenle in his arms, motioning for Kun to get up as well. He walks into the kitchen, placing the smaller boy on the counter, allowing him to rest his entire body on Taeyong’s sturdy frame. 

“Hyung?” Chenle mumbles slightly, his face smushed into Taeyong’s chest.

“Yeah, baby?” Taeyong replies, looking down at the boy. 

“Why are we up so early?” 

“We have to go to your school today and sort everything out, they want you to be there to give a statement, is that okay?”

Chenle’s breathing picks up a little, “It’s fine hyung,”

Taeyong just brings his hand to cup the back of Chenle’s head, holding it to his chest, knowing it calms the younger down. 

“Kun, I’m going to be gone for a little while, any chance you could make breakfast when everyone gets up? Make sure to rope one of the others into helping you,”

“Sure hyung, I’ll hold down the dorm for you,”

“You’re the best second-in-command going,” Taeyong places a kiss to Kun’s temple, sending him a warm look before turning most of his attention back to Chenle.

“I’ll make sure not to tell Johnny-hyung or Taeil-hyung about that,”

“Love you,”

“Love you too,”

Taeyong picks up Chenle and slips out of the 127 dorms, moving down the stairs to the dream dorm so Chenle can get changed into his own clothes, not just oversized hoodies that don’t belong to him and sweatpants that need extensive tying to stay around his waist. Taeyong sits the still sleepy Chenle on his bed and fishes through the drawers of clothing, trying to pick something somewhat bordering between suitable and comfortable. Eventually, he hands over a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, knowing he has a jacket that can be thrown over the top. He sends the boy off to shower quickly and brush his teeth, using the time to rush back upstairs and carefully find his own outfit, as well as brushing his teeth. 

When he gets back down to the dreamie dorm Chenle is nearly ready, just finishing off his morning routine before being ready to go. He looks much more alert and ‘ready to face the day.’ 

“Ready baby?”

“Yeah”

Within 20 minutes Taeyong is sat opposite the headmaster, with Chenle on his right and his manager on his left. Chenle uncomfortably relives the issues of the past few months, and the manager also wrings him out for it as well. Taeyong holds is tongue, not wanting to impact negatively on the headmaster's opinion of the idol group, especially not its leader. He is firmly assured that the bullying will not stand and the children responsible will be punished accordingly. Taeyong just gives him a slight glare as he shakes his hand, quickly escorting Chenle out of the room.

The younger only allows himself to cry the second they get in the car, hating how he was essentially forced into telling the whole story over again. Even though the school as said they will deal with it he still doesn’t feel comforted in that. There is no doubt that the same bullies will just come after him again now that he’s ‘snitched’ about their actions. He continues to hear the thought in his head that _‘it's not good enough’_ and how he _‘has to keep trying harder.’_

“Please don’t cry baby,” 

Chenle can’t help himself, starting to sob into Taeyong’s shirt instead of his hands. The leader just whispers sweet murmurs as the car starts to move, taking them back to the dorm. Taeyong just lets him cry, knowing it’s wrong to keep everything bottled inside. 

“Chenle, honey, if the bullying keeps on after this we can just transfer you to a different school, I won’t allow this to keep happening to you,” Taeyong states, thinking that that might be the issue Chenle is hung up on.

“Really?”

“Anything for you,”

“What about Jisung?”

“That’d be up to him if he stays or goes with you,”

“He has actual friends though,”

“Don’t underestimate what Jisung would do for his best friend,”

“I guess,”

“I know it’s hard to hear those things every day and just take it without telling anyone. You’re not bad at Korean, I can easily understand you and I know that sometimes you get confused on words but I can’t speak mandarin nearly as fluently as you can Korean. It’s okay to feel upset, but you should remember that whatever was said was just stupid meaningless lies,”

The both leave it at that having arrived at the dorm. Chenle gets multiple hugs and kisses from everyone as Taeyong relays the meeting back with Johnny, Taeil and Kun. Soon after he decides Chenle has received a suitable amount of attention for the hour, he settles everyone down into a relaxing day, knowing the hard work starts again tomorrow.

Later that evening as Chenle sits in the arms of one of his hyung’s, he reflects on what Taeyong told him in the car. Chenle does know that his Korean is good. Deep down he’s known that since the start but he never accepted it. Now he needs to accept it, once and for all.  
The bullies disappear and it takes a few months to build him back up to the level of confidence he had before the bullying started, but Taeyong knows that even despite the language barrier, Chenle will keep on succeeding with his Korean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you enjoy??? Please leave a comment and kudos !!!!! <3
> 
> \- L

**Author's Note:**

> did you enjoy??? please leave kudos and comments down below, it rlly rlly makes my day !!!! :)


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